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Crime Scene Unit called to S. Jamaica house fire after body found inside

Crime Scene Unit called to S. Jamaica house fire after body found inside
By Joe Anuta

Police set up a crime scene inside of a 146th Street home after some of the city’s Bravest found a dead body Sunday morning while putting out a fire, police and the FDNY said.

Firefighters received a 911 call reporting the blaze just after 9:30 a.m. and rushed to a house near the corner of 120th Avenue in South Jamaica. After the fire was placed under control half an hour later, the body of an adult man was found inside, according to the NYPD and FDNY.

The man was not identified, and his cause of death had not yet been determined by Sunday evening, according to police. However, detectives and the NYPD’s Crime Scene Unit were at the house throughout the day, and a fire Marshal said that the incident was under investigation.

Kenneth Browman, 71, lives across the street, and said that the house had been empty for months, while other neighbors said years.

“Nobody was living there,” he said. “It’s strange.”

The house is listed as belonging to a woman named Lorraine Sapp, though the last posting was a mortgage agreement from 2008, according to the city Department of Finance.

Several people who identified themselves as Sapp’s relatives, as well as several other neighbors, said Sapp had died about two years ago.

Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.